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Thursday 1st May, 2008

Not much to report really. I ordered a 41mm socket online from Avenue365 who supplied one for Ł9.37 delivered which undercut Swansea Fasteners by about Ł30 ... it arrived today. I maybe won't need it for a while but at that price it's worth having in the tool chest.

I've been doing a bit of thinking about the engine mounts. I got a torch and a ruler out to check on the situation - the sump currently hangs about 22mm below the bottom of the chassis, so raising by 25mm will be about right. I could just raise the top mounts up on blocks but the gearbox mount is going to need some welding/fabrication anyway so I decided it will be neater and probably better to fabricate new mounts, or at least part of them, for the top too. I've fancied having a welder for a long time, and it's likely that if I'm to race the Fury I'll be needing one for other jobs at some stage. So I spent quite a while doing a bit of research and ended up using a Machine Mart VAT free offer to order one online. Hopefully it'll be here for the weekend. I also called in a local steel stockholder and bought a length of off-cut steel strip - it's probably slightly thicker than I want (6mm rather than 5mm) but I'll see how I get on with it.

I made a couple of enquiries on the BEC list - one about the engine mounts the other about the dash/steering wheel situation. I'd been thinking of getting one of the steering wheels with a cutaway section in the top but thought it best to check it wouldn't fall foul of the regs for the RGB series. Turns out it would and advice is to fiddle about with location of DigiDash/steering column to get a clear view or get a bigger wheel.

This evening I removed the DigiDash from the car to send it back. I'll also order a lap timer module. A couple of the switches in the dash (2 redundant ones as it turns out) had come undone and fallen backwards behind the dash so OI retrieved the nuts that go on the front from the debris in the footwell - both footwells were full of bits of rubber from the trackday. I also replaced the brake pedal pivot bolt with a longer one and tightened up the clutch one which seemed to be suffering from the same problem. I removed a washer and applied some threadlock to it to hopefully prevent it coming undone again.

I also rearranged the bikes and stuff in the garage ready to get the Fury back up onto its axle stands ready to get the engine out again. I could probably do the top mounts with it still in the chassis but there's bugger all chance of doing that for the gearbox cradle and I need to look at that oil leak again. I suspect there must be a tiny crack or something in the actual alternator cover.

Even if the welder isn't here for the weekend I've got plenty to get on with - I need to sort out the left side rear wheel arch which is rubbing on the tyre, I also want to add a switch to be able to power up the DigiDash without the engine ignition - as soon as the ignition is on it runs the electric water pump which drains the battery. I should be able to do it with a double pole switch I think.

Monday 5th May, 2008

I haven't had time to do much tinkering with the car over the last couple of days. Trouble is it's spring and things start to grow - like lawns and stuff. It then needs cutting. Lots of other jobs need doing. I did quite a bit of online shopping in the early part of the week, sadly the welder hasn't arrived but the Parweld auto-darkening mask did. I've tried a bit of arc welding in the past and found it frustrating not being able to see a bloody thing till you actually strike an arc. This one has adjustable settings and is just like a pair of lightly tinted sunglasses in its natural state. I discovered even a 60w bulb in the kitchen makes it darken, it's really quite impressive, instantly darkens. I also ordered a clutch holding tool which arrived mid-week - it's like a large mole grip with prongs on the end to hold a clutch basket. Should make getting the clutch out a lot easier - I may as well whip it out when the engine's out to see if I can get the gear position switch working, although to be honest I can cope fine without a neutral light. I suppose it just bugs me that it doesn't work! I sent off the DigiDash to have its firmware upgraded, they can also look at why it won't connect to my laptop. I'll also get a lap timing sensor to go with it.

I had a very helpful exchange of emails with one of the current RGBers which has motivated me even more. He's suggested I get a move on with my ARDS. He's right of course. I was ringing Pembrey all week but couldn't get a reply, I'll have a chat with Alan who knows the setup there well and see what the best way of contacting them is. I'm prepared to travel further afield if needs be although I suspect Pembrey will be cheaper. I emailed my GP on Friday morning about getting the medical done and he left a message saying to call in at 5.30! So I got that done on Friday evening. He did raise an eyebrow at the 'evidence of a mental condition' bit but I managed to persuade him I was OK :-)

On Saturday morning I had a trip to the local Screwfix. My trusty old Black & Decker cordless drill is on its last legs. Well the drill's OK but one battery's completely useless the other getting that way. So I invested in a nice Erbauer 18v drill. For the anoraks out there it's really great - 13mm chuck, metal gears, pair of 2AH batteries that charge in just an hour. It's leagues better than my old one - the B&D was a pain in that it was difficult to tighten the chuck properly but this one automatically locks when the drill isn't running. It also has masses of torque - I tried it yesterday fixing my shed and putting screws in was a breeze. I also got a set of cobalt bits and hacksaw blades. I was thinking of getting a jigsaw but couldn't bring myself to splash out that much.

Out in the garage I got the car up onto axle stands again. A couple of hours later I had the engine out - managed it with a bit less fluid leakage onto the floor this time. With the engine out I removed the parts of the mounts I planned to re-fabricate then tucked the engine out of the way behind the car.

I made a start on the wheel arch. Basically when I stuck the left hand one on I boo boo'd and pulled the rear of it too close to the wheel so it's been rubbing. First I made a cut with the angle grinder to allow me to bend the rear part of it backwards. The first cut didn't help much so I added another, then removed some of the GRP to allow it to flex OK.

I then cut a little strip of aluminium and pulled the arch back to where I want it and pinned it in place with 4 pop rivets. I could then trim away the excess to minimise any step between the 2 parts. You can see from the first pic below that I now have adequate clearance from the tyre.

Next was to cut some strips of chopped strand mat (I'm sure weave would be better but I haven't got any), mix some resin and slap it all on. I ran a strip along the join on each side of the arch.

Once that had hardened I trimmed off the excess, removed my aluminium strip and set to it with the angle grinder with a flap wheel in it to get the contours roughly right. I then stuck another strip of mat along the outside and reinforced the bottom edge with a small piece folded around it. Yes, I know it looks pretty scabby but I'll sand it roughly to shape then add some filler and paint it all. It'll be OK, you'll see ...

Hopefully the welder will arrive tomorrow so I can get the engine mounts done during the week. I'm going to need to spend quite a bit of time practicing and I think I need some thinner steel sheet - the heftier parts of the mounts are 5mm thick but some parts look like 3mm.

Friday 9th May, 2008

Well the welder did arrive on Tuesday so I had a play on some steel angle I'd got from B&Q for my gearshift bracketry. It was obviously a bit messy at first but I started to get the hang of it. I can see that it'll take a lot of skill and practice to get nice neat welds but that the kit's easy enough to use for me to get by. The helmet was certainly a revelation although I think my biggest problem was not trusting it and squinting quite a lot once the arc was struck! I probably did a total of about a metre of weld and in addition to still being able to see the next morning there was no eye discomfort so I guess I can trust the helmet and look directly at the arc as I'm welding. The welder comes with a disposable CO2 bottle but having read the really useful info on this MIG welding site I found I'd also ordered a bottle of the Argon/CO2 mix as this apparently gives a much better weld on mild steel. I decided to just use the CO2 while practising and to save the better stuff for the actual mounts. The only shopping during the week was a trip back to the steel stockholders for a length of 3mm steel strip 50mm x about 2m.

I got through to speak to someone at Pembrey eventually to find that they don't do ARDS tests any more as there's no instructor there now. This was a bit disappointing and I had to start considering a plan B. The next nearest place is Castle Combe so I gave them a ring on Thursday. They had a course next Thursday which I couldn't make because of work and one on the 10th July which is a long way off. The next phone call was to Thruxton who said they could fit me in either tomorrow or Saturday! I was due to be off on Friday so I thought I may as well go for it and booked in for 2.30 Friday afternoon. After parting with Ł270 for the half day course/test via credit card I decided to stop feeling guilty about the fees I charge for the medical courses I run!

So Thursday evening was spent frantically revising by reading my electronic version of the 'Blue Book', watching the MSA's 'Go Racing' DVD and scouring the internet for any info I could find on the ARDS test. There are quite a few threads on it in the Motorsport section on the Pistonheads forums, some of which are quite encouraging, others less so, particularly the one where someone went to Silverstone and they only passed 8 out of a group of 24 :-O The main factual knowledge concerns the flags and to be honest I already knew most of them - I did find a nice site here that showed them all with the actual blue book wording along with some additional explanation. I have to say I was really nervous about doing it - it's been on the horizon for ages but suddenly having it booked for the next day and parting with that much money focused the mind somewhat. I also found a couple of YouTube clips with onboard laps of Thruxton.

Come Friday morning I was up early and ... still very nervous! I'd decided to go on the bike as I figured getting back from Thruxton on Friday evening could be a bit of a nightmare in the car. I reckoned if I left at about 11.30 I'd be OK. I did some more revision then went out to the garage for an hour. I used the angle grinder with a flap disc on the wheel arch to tidy that up which produced a couple of small holes where the GRP was very thin. I then patched the back of that with a couple of strips of matting and some resin, It should be pretty much ready for some filler once that's gone off. I also made a start on the engine mounts - the front top mount is a triangular plate that bolts onto the chassis tubes and has a vertical U shaped bit into which the cylinder head mount bolts via a bush. I decided the easiest way to deal with this was to grind the U shaped bracket off the base plate and fabricate another which was 25mm taller and weld that on. After a bit of fiddling about I realised there was no way I'd be able to produce the 90%deg; bends in one piece so I decided to make it in 2 pieces. I got quite a bit of the fabrication of the 2 pieces done then it was time to go and shower the GRP dust off and stick the leathers on.

The ride to Thruxton was uneventful - it was warm and dry and although quite a lot of it was on the M4 I enjoyed it. the R1 really is a fabulous machine, it's just so easy to ride! Once there I got changed, signed on and sat with the small group of blokes looking as nervous as me. The place was absolutely heaving with people doing driving experience days, out in various cars from single seaters through to F430s and a Lambo Murcielago LP640. They were doing a nice trade selling the onboard DVDs and photos.

Eventually our instructor for the afternoon appeared and shepherded us off to the teaching room. Pat Blakeney is the chief instructor at Thruxton and spent most of the afternoon going through key bits of the MSA DVD with us. He was very good, a nice relaxed manner with a bit of humour but gave us some very nice explanations around the key bits. Again there was very little that was new to me but he did provide me with some additional insight and understanding particularly around the weight transfer stuff. At about 4 o'clock the classroom stuff was done and it was time to go out onto the circuit. I recognised one of the instructors from the 2 trackdays at Pembrey and started chatting to him - I can't remember his surname but his first name's Rupert. Pat sent us off together and Rupert led me out to a little Mazda hatchback. The format was to be him driving 3 laps followed by me driving 6 or more laps, the final couple of which would be without instruction. He's a really nice guy and I really enjoyed it, I've never been on the circuit at Thruxton before and the back part of the circuit is very fast and pretty featureless - I was grateful for the entry, apex and exit cones! After just 2 sighting laps we pulled back into the pit lane and it was my turn. The little Mazda was surprisingly powerful - it's a turbo with 260bhp and really had terrific midrange push! The name of the game was building slowly and smoothness. Rupert's a really good instructor and it was pretty clear was there to help rather than trip me up. I was told to just stick to 3rd and 4th gear which suited me just fine! After 3 or 4 laps he said he's stop talking and just watch me drive a couple of laps and I was pleased I managed to get the tricky bits - the right-left-right complex after the start/finish straight and the chicane just before it - nice and tidy and smooth. Rupert was clearly happy with me as we came back into the pit lane.

Just the flags and the test to go then. Pat spent quite a while going through all the flags then handed out the test papers. Page one is pictures of all 4 flags, page 2 is 14 questions asking you to identify the correct flag for each situation. You have to get all these correct in addition to the next 3 safety questions - one was about what to do if you drop your helmet and crack it and to be honest only an idiot would choose the 'cover it with a sticker' or 'sell it to a fellow competitor' options! The next was about fire extinguishers and did tax me a bit as although I thought the correct option was to make sure it was 'serviceable and the gauge showing full' there was another plausible option which was that it should have the manufacturer's label on it. I decided the latter was the scrutineer's concern and was actually about dates rather than manufacturers and that I was more interested in it working and being full! The last one was as easy as the first - when would your car be scrutineered. The remaining 8 questions were all easy. At the end I'd got them all right and Pat stamped and signed my licence application form and I got back into my leathers at 6pm to head home. Unfortunately I left my folder with all my paperwork including my driving licence there only realising 145 miles and 2 hours and 12 minutes later but that's another story ...

Saturday 10th May, 2008

I was absolutely knackered last night - I wasn't hanging around on the R1 and 300 miles takes its toll on neck and shoulders. Anyway, I did get through to Thruxton eventually on the phone this morning, they found my folder and are posting it back to me on Monday :-)

I managed to more or less complete the first engine mount bracket -finished off fabricating the 2 upright parts, drilled the holes for the 12mm bolt then clamped them in position with the bolt in and welded them on. I decided it woul dbe better to brace them a bit so filled in the space between them with some fillets of 3mm steel cut to size. the welds are pretty messy - I suspect I've had the wire speed a bit too high for the current leading to piling the weld material a bit high and probably not penetrating very deep. I'll try to get some pics tomorrow.

Sunday 11th May, 2008

Much of the day was taken up with golf and mowing :-(

I did get the bottom engine mount fabricated - it's a large inverted U shaped section with 2 3x25mm strips welded underneath it that slip either side of the bottom chassis tube. I just cut them off with the angle grinder then cut a pair of 3x50mm strips, drilled holes in them and welded them on instead. Again the welding's pretty messy, I stuck a small fillet underneath as a brace. I'll clean it up with the flap wheel before I stick some paint on it. The only one left to do now is the top rear mount and I just plan to use a flat plate to raise this. I might even cut the piece ready and wait till I can lower the engine in situ to tack it together - since it's the third of the 3 mounts I can then make sure they all fit and hold the engine in the correct position.

I didn't have time to make any more progress with the rear wheel arch. I think I'll wait till I can drag the rear tub out of the garage so I cut down a bit on the dust in there. I also need to do a bit of work on the arch on the other side - there's a crack between the body and the back end of the arch extension. I'll probably reinforce it inside with some GRP and refill it. I may just try to get a couple of aerosols made up instead of using the spray gun, it's not a big area I need to do.

Thursday 15th May, 2008

I haven't got much done in the garage this week - the evenings have been taken up catching up on the garden and getting the swimming pool ready for the summer. I've more or less got the wheel arch ready for painting - I applied a layer of filler and got it back roughly to shape with the drill and flapwheel then applied some more filler and sanded back with wet and dry. With various layers of GRP and filler it's quite difficult to see how good or bad it is and I think I might slap a coat of primer on which will make it easier to see what's what.

My folder came back from Thruxton on Tuesday morning so I completed my competition licence application and got that off to the MSA. I got an email acknowledgement of receipt yesterday. I sent off my 750MC club application and got my membership card back although there's no membership number on it. I also bit the bullet and sent off my series application form. They emailed me back a race entry pack and informed me my race number's 33. I haven't sent a race entry off yet, I think I'd better wait till I get my MSA licence back.

I was reminded on looking through the entry forms that I'll need a transponder - so far as I can gather this little device picks up strips laid across the circuit and does all the lap timing. The one I needed was this one from HS Sports which cost me the sum of Ł226.05 direct from them. I did look around for a second hand one but couldn't find any at present. It seems they change hands for upwards of Ł180 used anyway so there wasn't much of a saving to be had. That arrived yesterday.

I've been in email contact with one or two of the racers along with the 750MC competition secretary and the Formula rep for RGB. The Formula rep's Steve Robinson and it turns out we've encountered each other in previous lives as he was competition secretary for the Westfield Sports Car Club when I raced in 2003. I was trying to remember why I only did the one hill climb (Llys y Fran in July 2003) and I think I only really got the car ready towards the end of the season and missed a couple of the events through work, Ironman Austria etc. I then got distracted with the Ultima build which started in June 2003. Anyway, I've been asking about getting the car looked over by a scrutineer locally to try to identify and sort any issues before I trek off to my first race. Turns out there's a list of scrutineers in the Blue Book but Steve's advice was to not worry about it too much as there'll be plenty of help on hand from the other guys to get it through. The next race is in Anglesey the weekend of 7/8th June and is a double header, i.e. races on both Saturday and Sunday. There's also a test day there on the Friday which it would be a really good idea to get to. So, that's what I've got my sights set on at the moment. Although Anglesey is in Wales it's in north west Wales and I'm in Swansea sort of in the middle of south Wales and there are no motorways between north and south Wales. According to Tom Tom it's about 170 miles and over 5 hours but it could be longer than that with a trailer, so in actual fact some of the other circuits like Oulton and Donington are easier to get to!

I also of course need some new kit - I've previously used my bike helmet for trackdays but it isn't MSA approved since bike helmets, apart from using different standards, aren't fireproof. My Sparco race overalls are still in date but it's sensible to get some nomex undergear, socks, balaclava etc. Buying helmets and clothing by mail order is fraught with problems so I'm planning an expedition to Demon Tweeks - also in Wales but in north east Wales this time! fortunately I'm running a workshop for educators next Wednesday which happens to be in Wrexham and should finish at lunchtime so I'll take my credit card there then. I'll need race numbers, novice sticker etc. as well.

So, the Fury's almost finished but the expense is racking up! Here's a break down of what it's costing me to go racing:

ARDS Course	Ł270
MSA Licence	Ł49
750MC Membership	Ł50
RGB Race Series Entry	Ł75
Transponder	Ł226
Helmet, clothing, stickers etc.	cŁ600

And then there will be the race entry fees - Anglesey's Ł225 for the two races, so by the time I do the test day and add this to the little list above I'm looking at over Ł1500.

Today I got a bit of shopping done at lunchtime. After I'd done the spraying I was talking to Andy about wiping the panels down beforehand and he helpfully told me there are things called tack rags ... so I called in Livermore's and got a box of those along with a tube of cutting compound.

This evening I cleaned all the black underbody stuff off the inside of the right wheelarch ready to fix that. what's happened is that it's flexed when I'm pulling the rear tub off and on - ideally it's a 2 man job but I'm on my own most of the time. Once that was done I mixed some resin and stuck a few strips of mat over the inside where it's cracked. Tomorrow I'll rub down the outside and fill the crack ready for some paint. I should get quite a bit done this weekend - I lost most of last Friday cos of the trip to Thruxton.

Friday 16th May, 2008

I fabricated the final engine mount - the easiest as it's a simple steel bar that bolts onto the head. I was previously using some spacing washers so I just cut a length of 6x50mm, drilled it and welded it on. Once that was done I gave them all a clean up with the flap wheel and a wire brush and splashed some of the POR15 metal preparer stuff on there. It allegedly has some zinc in it.

I sanded down the crack on the outside of the right wheelarch, filled it and sanded again. I took the tub off and propped it up ready for spraying. After turning most things in the garage blue last time I sprayed I had a cunning plan ,,, I used a decorator's sheet and a roll of polythene I bought at Screwfix to screen off a part of the garage. This should also prevent some of the dust getting onto the paintwork. I mixed up the filler primer and gave it a good coat. So good I had loads of sags in it agin! Grrr ...

While that was drying I had some other errands to do, mainly investigating getting some decking timber.

Once the primer was dry I got going with the 240 grade wet and dry to remove my sags. This actually went OK and I managed to sort the surface out without having to apply any more primer. I also painted the engine mounts with black POR15.

Once the primer was sanded back I cleaned it up with one of the tack rags I got then mixed the blue paint and sprayed that. I got this much better with no sags or runs and quite a good finish - certainly better than it was before! While waiting for it to dry I was clearing the stuff up and realised I'd used the wrong activator for the blue paint - I hadn't spotted that there was a different one for top coat and for primer. It seemed to be going off OK anyway so i decided not to panic and to see how it turned out.

That was that for the day. I did get an email during the day from the MSA to say my licence was done and had been sent for printing. They reckon I should get it within 6 days. So I'd better get some race applications in now.

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